


She's Not Coming Home Tonight

by mistynights



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 01:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14989778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistynights/pseuds/mistynights
Summary: Some time after Peggy's death, Steve meets a lady who tells him about the parts of Peggy's life he missed while on the ice.





	She's Not Coming Home Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> So I think this is not nearly as sad as the tags might make it seem. At least I hope it isn't. 
> 
> Title from the song The Memory Is Cruel by Russian Red. That song brakes my heart every time I hear it, and when I started writing this fic I realized that they fit quite well together. I would recommend listening to it, if only because the singer's voice is absolutely gorgeous.
> 
> Unbetaed, so let me know of any mistakes you might find.

**July 25th, 2016**

It takes Steve some weeks after Peggy's funeral to finally muster up the courage to visit her grave. Bucky and Sam both offer to go with him at some point while he is getting ready to leave the house, but he decides he needs to do this alone.

He walks the streets with firm steps, stopping only at a flower stand to buy a small bouquet of roses and wildflowers that he thinks she would have loved. It breaks his heart a little to think about it. 

The day is one of the prettiest that year, and he feels kind of betrayed by it, like he can't mourn in peace when the sun is shining and he can hear birds singing in the distance. It's all weirdly calm. Unlike him. 

He arrives at the graveyard and walks to Peggy's grave, purposefully taking way more time than it should. He is dreading the moment when he sees the stone, when the confirmation of what happened dawns on him. He has half a mind to turn around and run back home, hide under  his covers like a child and never come near this place again, but then he's standing in front of Peggy's resting place and he can't move. He's frozen, staring at the dates in the stone, the name, the epitaph, remembering the little time they actually had together. 

Steve isn't sure how long he's been standing there, how long he's been lost in thought with the bouquet gripped firmly in his hand, but suddenly there's someone else standing next to the grave. 

"See, Alessa? She's right here," a soft voice says. Steve turns towards the voice and he sees a young blond woman pushing an old lady's wheelchair towards Peggy's gravestone. 

"I can see that, Nonna," the young woman, who Steve supposes must be Alessa, says. The old lady nods and looks at the stone as well. She's smiling, but there's sadness in her eyes. 

Steve steps a little to the side, giving the women enough space to set the wheelchair, and then sets the bouquet on the grave. 

"Oh, what lovely flowers this young man has brought you," the old lady says, talking more to the stone than anyone else. "You love them, don't you, English?" 

Alessa lets out a sad chuckle and turns towards Steve. 

"Did you know her?" she asks and he can only nod. "I'm sorry for your loss." 

"Thanks. Likewise," he mutters, pointing slightly towards the old woman who is still talking to the gravestone. 

"Thank you. She was a good friend of my Nonna's. The two of them basically raised me and my cousins, you know. Peggy was like another aunt for all of us, even if she had her own family." Steve nods again, looking at the lady. He doesn't think he recognizes her, so she's probably a friend of Peggy's from after he went into the ice. "How rude of me, I'm Alex." 

"Steve," he says, taking her hand. She smiles as they shake hands. 

"So how did you know her?" 

"Peggy and I were good friends," he replies, a small sigh escaping his lips as he talks. Alex opens her mouth to say something else when the old lady lets out a loud gasp.

"Nonna? Are you alright?" she asks instead, moving to crouch next to the wheelchair. 

"It can't be," is all the woman replies before looking up and fixing her eyes on Steve. There's something about the way she's looking at him that makes Steve want to squirm, like she's trying to look look inside him. She stares at him for a long minute before frowning slightly. "She used to talk about you." 

"She did?" Steve can't shake the unpleasant feeling that sinks in his stomach. He's always harbored the hope that Peggy didn't let his memory fade so easily, but having those hopes confirmed is somehow worse than when he wasn't sure. It's somehow even more heartbreaking than everything that has happened already. Mostly because it means that she couldn't let go of him. That his memory haunted her for a long time, and knowing that he hurt her is worse than thinking she'd forgotten him. 

"All the time," the old lady says, eyes shining with something that Steve can't quite place. 

"Nonna," Alex mutters when the woman opens her mouth to continue speaking, "I'm sure he wants to say goodbye in peace." 

"Oh, of course. Sorry, boy." The old lady turns back towards the headstone with a bashful look on her face and sighs. 

"No, it's quite alright," Steve is quick to say. He wants to hear as much as he can, hear about all the time he missed while frozen. "I'd like to hear." 

Alex nods and the old lady beams at him and then points towards a bench under a tree's shade at the side of the graveyard. 

"Let's got there. The shade will be quite lovely, don't you think?" Alex and Steve exchange looks and shrug. A moment later the three of them are slowly making their way towards the bench. 

Once there, Alex sets the wheelchair in front of the bench and then she and Steve sit side by side on the bench, looking expectantly at the lady, waiting for her to start. 

"I have many stories about her to tell," the lady starts, looking at Steve in the eye. Her gaze is somehow intimidating and captivating at the same time. It makes him not want to look away ever. "I suppose I should start in the beginning. With the first time we met, don't you agree?" 

Steve nods a couple times and Alex sighs. He looks over at her and notices that she looks genuinely curious, but also stressed about something. He shoots her a look and she shrugs. 

"I promised my mom that we wouldn't stay here for too long," she explains. "It's not good for her health. She hasn't been very good since Peggy died. They were very close."

"Don't interrupt!" the old lady exclaims and Alex chuckles despite herself. Steve laughs a bit too and then nods at her to continue. "Very well, then. The first time I met English, she was mourning the death of a loved one."


End file.
